


The October Country

by fizziefizzco



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game), Life Is Strange 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Lots of time jumps, M/M, Nathan lives, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Not Canon Compliant, Rachel Amber Lives, Rachel has fire powers, Recreational Drug Use, chloe and the gang meet sean and daniel, the storm still happened, they dont all show up at the same time, too many fuckin kids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:34:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22741825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fizziefizzco/pseuds/fizziefizzco
Summary: Nathan helped Rachel amber escape before Jefferson could find her, and buried a stolen skeleton from the science department at the school. Max and Chloe still investigate and before Nathan can tell them the truth , Jefferson gets to her first. Most of the same things happen. The storm only kills those who deserve it.Meanwhile Rachel hitched a ride to california with some hippies she met jumping trains. They hang around for a while before Rachel settles down and creates a new life for herself.Chloe never stops fighting to find rachel, and eventually life moves on, until one day she notices a face she'd never forget while scrolling through instagram. Rounding up her friends, they go off on a final adventure to reunite with their lost friend.
Relationships: Chloe Price & David Madsen, Chloe Price & Joyce Price, Chloe Price (Life Is Strange)/Original Female Character(s), David Madsen/Joyce Price, Evan Harris/Daniel DaCosta, Frank Bowers & Chloe Price, Jinx/Penny, Maxine "Max" Caulfield & Chloe Price, Maxine "Max" Caulfield/Warren Graham, Rachel Amber & Evan Harris, Rachel Amber & Frank Bowers, Rachel Amber/Chloe Price, Samantha Myers/Nathan Prescott, Victoria Chase/Kate Marsh
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	The October Country

A quick , panicked breath as a young man tugged ravenously on the leather restraints that bound a young woman’s legs and arms. She was groggy, and pretty out of it and murmured something about not knowing where she was as the young man hurried to grab her a cup of water. 

“Nathan?”Whispers,confusion.

“Don-don’t say anything. W-wh-you need to leave right now.” Nathan pleaded. 

“I don’t feel so good.” She slurred , gripping onto Nathan , her long brown hair falling into her face. Nathan slipped his own jacket onto her , and helped her up the new metal stairs as quietly as possible and into the barn , eyes darting around as though he was scared. Of anything, of someone, of ,of him. The man wouldn’t be back for some time, as the thing he’d left for, drugs, was further out than the man expected - but nathan could never be so sure that he wasn’t watching. There would hopefully be enough time to get the girl out to a safe distance, and pray she’d be safe on her own. Nathan could die. He didn’t care. “I’m so sick of people trying to control me.” He spat out as he helped his dozing off companion out into the deep woods. She seemed to get better the further they went out , and by the time Nathan got her out to the place he was to leave her, she was fully conscious. She was Rachel Amber , 18 years old - daughter of Sara Gearhardt and James Amber. Flirting with danger , Chloe Price and Frank Bowers. She had dreams of being a model , and trusted her photography teacher too much. That was something she’d never do again. Look where it got her , head swimming with static and a mouth full of bile. It didn’t take much for her to throw up once her head cleared. 

“Nathan?”She whimpered again , more questions than answers.

“You have to run. “His voice was twitchy, as if he was off medication , but his shithead parents never cared about him enough to get him help. For anything. ‘Jefferson is helping’ he could hear their voices ring out . No he wasn’t.

“I can’t fucking stay!” He blurted out “You’ve gotta run or he’ll fucking kill you. Y-yuh-You can’t call anyone.” The girl looked scared, but her features softened as she realized what was going on.

“I can’t let you die.” She called out , as Nathan began heading back. 

“You’ve got no choice.”Nathan shouted back as he ran off into the woods, leaving the girl to stand by herself.

“Fuck.”She muttered , and ran off in the other direction, twoards the junkyard. Rachel had only thought for a fleeting moment , to go home and hide there. To let her parents , the police , handle it. No! No. The kind of person to drug and kidnap a teen like herself surely would be the same kind to have a contingency plan. Something to get them off scott free. Then the cycle would continue , and worse would be done. Rachel was a smart girl, and she knew that much. 

Rachel ran, and ran , and ran - her breath felt like fire and fear warmed her core. Though , there was a growing part of her that couldn’t deny the intoxicating feeling , the freedom of the situation. She could begin something new , in california - like her plan was all along. What , in reality, took almost an hour - felt to Rachel like mere minutes. She stopped at the entrance , the piled cars and trash , the littered pieces of debris felt like confetti and crowds after a race. A race for her life more like it. Just as with that sweet high of winning a race, soon came the crash. Rachel managed to make her way into her and Chloe’s hideaway , and collapsed, the fear and terror catching up to her. And she vomited again. “FucK.” Rachel whispered , running her hands over her face. “FUCK.”The whisper came a bit louder this time , as Rachel scrambled back to her feet. She surveyed the area , taking notes of all the things her and Chloe left around. 

Chloe. Shit. She’d promised Chloe what seemed like forever ago that when Rachel left, they’d leave together - making their own way. Surely her kidnapper wouldn’t go after her , or would they? Rachel hardly remembered what had gone on , only remembering an afterschool meeting with victoria, nathan and jefferson. It was all black and blurry until she came to in the woods with Nathan. Rachel dug her hand into her pocket , retrieving her smart phone to call chloe - only to realize … that it wasn’t there. Whoever took her, must’ve taken her cell phone so she’d have no way of getting help. That meant the same thing now , as she intended to escape .Rachel had to do this on her own now- as there was no way she’d make it to Chloe’s house without someone finding her , putting her in more danger.It hurt , but she- and chloe, would get over it in time.. She hoped.

Rachel tore the ratted , fading couch cushions off of the frame and pulled from said frame , a black canvas duffle bag. In it were clothes from both her and Chloe. Shirts , Pants, Underwear, Jackets, all of the needed clothing items. She only needed the boots she had on her . Setting the clothing bag open and to the side, rachel’s eyes scanned the room. Surely she’d remember her own hiding spot. Gotcha! A glimpse of light, and rachel new she had the right spot. She’d come to the hideaway on her own , with a small box of things that she wanted to hide from even Chloe. It was mostly personal memories , a photo with her mom , pictures with chloe , polaroids with her other best friend Evan Harris , photos of frank - a lot of photos and personal documents. She’d also hidden the wood handled knife that Chloe gave her. It was made by a native american artisan in the area , handmade for Rachel. Chloe’s gift to her for her 18th birthday. It had a lot of significance , and Rachel felt she needed it most at a time like this. 

There was a mirror in the hideaway , Rachel added it herself while she and Chloe messed around with dye and clothing and scissors. It was also useful in more intimate moments with the other woman , as rachel liked to see herself in those moments of helplessness.. A shiver of fear ran down her spine as a flash of the night earlier ran in her brain. Seeing herself in mirrored walls , mirrored ceilings and surfaces. It wasn’t something she liked. She gripped the handle of the knife just a little bit harder as she took it from her pocket. 

Holding a section of her long , smooth brown hair out , Rachel began to saw it. She raggedly cut off chunk after chunk , section after section until all that was left of her hair , was a gross , short mess. In a perfect world where she was doing this with Chloe , and without the fear of a kidnapper on her heel - Rachel would have dyed her hair too. This was not a perfect world and the anxiety that was building inside Rachel was like a growing crescendo , or the bass of a dubstep song , or the pressure in a submarine as it lowers into the unknown depths. Rachel grabbed a notebook that chloe used for selling to the kids at blackwell , and wrote a message of apology. Rachel tore the page out , and after grabbing a few photos she couldn’t live without , put the note inside the box. 

Rachel never going to the junkyard without chloe was a lie. Nathan was her partner once for a photography project , and the two of them decided to be a bit macabre and pose like corpses in the junkard. This was long before Chloe and Rachel got together , but not long enough. Nathan kept his photos. He liked to look at them , constantly critiquing and criticizing over his work. Someday , once people knew she was gone , they’d find this box buried in the junkyard. Rachel tore the ground up with her hands , as using a shovel - at least in her head , caused too much noise. Rachel took the box into her hands and placed it into the hole, covering the box with her red flannel jacket, and covering it up again with the dirt. She felt something , eyes flicking between windows. Rachel needed to leave. NOW. 

She scrambled , knocking things over and nearly tripping as she ran back into the hideout. Grabbing the bag , she shoved a few last things - money they left lying around mostly. Rachel pulled her jacket on , tightening the hood to hide as much of her face as possible after she slung the bag around her . 

Running off , she heard the sound of an oncoming train. Bingo. There was no time for Rachel to breathe , as she held in a breath - running alongside the moving train , hoping there was an open ,empty cart. There it was! Just as Rachel jumped for it , she felt a few pairs of hands hold onto her , helping her up. It went too quickly for her to freak out and let go , but as soon as rachel collided with the floor of the train cart, she panicked , holding out Chloe’s knife in a defensive position. 

“Smart girl.” A titchy sounding male spoke. The other man sitting next to him nudged him gently. 

“Jinx , don’t.” The man , tall , slender and dark skinned with bleached , rough natural hair and a golden nose ring spoke with a certain degree of softness. 

“Woah , hey.” A new voice , a hispanic female , long brown hair , a torn up led zeppelin shirt , and acid washed jeans - also worn to hell. She held her hands out in a safe, defense position . putting out a feel , like a person meeting a new and unfamiliar dog … a dog with a knife in its hands and the unmistakable look of a violated young teen. “We aren’t here to hurt you. Likely , we’re in the same position as you are..” 

“Lost.” A young man said, he looked like someone who’d go to her school. Preppy ,jockish but with a messy and lost look about him. He had dark brown hair in the same style as Warren’s, wearing an old Portland University hoodie. A young woman ,medium length dark brown hair , and kinda thick, the same age visually as the boy next to her laughed. 

“I’m not lost. I’m where I’m supposed to be.” This warranted her a glare from the Hispanic looking woman. “You might have left your home on purpose but this life isnt a choice for some of us.” The woman pressed , and the young woman glared back and turned away. 

“I’m Hannah.” Now the Hispanic woman had a name. The two guys who helped you up are Jinx , the jittery one ; and Baptist, the guy who never leaves his side.” Baptist waved at Rachel , who felt more at ease , knowing names to faces, “The pissed off girl is Lucy , and mr.jock here is Finnegan. They’re new , just like you must be.” Rachel nodded ,still tense but now she wasn’t holding in a breath. 

“I’m Rachel. Rachel Amber.” Hannah smiled in a way that reminded her of chloe, “You don’t need to worry about us robbing from you or killing you. We’ve all been through that before. We’re just a bunch of dumb teens and adults drifting along and unwanted.” Rachel felt relieved at that , and she could tell Hannah was being sincere in what she said. Rachel was good at trusting people, and she had a fairly good intuition. Though , she wasn’t so sure her intuition was great because of what happened to her. 

“You don’t need to share what happened to you unless you want to. None of us are going to pressure you” Jinx spoke , shaking hands laid in his lap. “Where are you guys headed?” Rachel asked, “We were just about to ask you the same thing.” Baptist smiled , his own hands covering up jinx’s. Rachel took a deep breath and let out a shaky laugh; it was the kind you’d hear in a horror movie as the hero turns out to be insane all along. “Coastal California I guess. I’m just trying to escape right now. Get away.” Lucy turned around , listening to Rachel speak. “We’re headed to San Francisco.” She speaks up. “Lucy is right. We usually hop around places , wherever the trains take us. Lucy , Finnegan and you are just joined but we tend to hop around together and split sometimes when we feel like it. Baptist and I got some friends in Sf that need people for some city projects. So I told them about us , and that’s where we’re going. '' Rachel thought to herself for a moment , and San Francisco was the best place for her to start. If she could get a job there, it would be great. This posting might be temporary, but it’d be something to get her started. “That sounds wonderful.” Rachel spoke. “Glad to join the family.” Hannah brought her in for a hug , and soon there was a hug pile of all 6 of them. 

It took a few days of sleeping on the train before they had to hop off and switch. It was a thrilling experience, and something Rachel would never forget , even though she’d hope that she’d never have to do this a second time. Hopefully once she made herself a place , she’d be able to stop running and live. The thought made her want to keep going though. There was a few more switches and many days before the group got to San Francisco , California. Rachel had been there before but it never ceased to amaze her how pretty the city was. Finnegan, who looked younger than Rachel, took it all in with astonishment. “Have you never been here before?” Rachel asked him. The teen shook his head. 

“No, I’ve never had the chance with being from a poor family and all.” Finnegan let out as the group walked together. “Oh. I’m sorry.” Rachel’s apology was one that was sincere, she knew from Frank and Chloe how hard it was at times. The “Don’t be.” from Finnegan surprised her “My Family is shitty , so don’t feel sorry for me.” He spoke rather quickly and , and carried on nonchalantly as though he’d never said it in the first place. 

It took the group some time , but the six were quite thankful in having a place to stay for the night. It was a rather old looking apartment above a Chinese restaurant. The windows were painted shut from the outside and it was a mix of brick and wood. Hannah’s friend met the group outside, and handed Hannah the keys to the apartment. Work assignments are in the apartment, good couple months worth of work. Hannah thanked her friend, who played it off and pretended to act like a strict boss and landlord before laughing. After they said their goodbyes, the group went up and inside. 

It was similar to the outside; painted walls , exposed brick ,and old wood. Rachel smiled as she took it all in. All of this was so exciting, and having a couple months worth of work was going to be a big help. “So you four get to talk amongst yourself as to who is sharing a room. Jinx and I already know that we’re sharing. “Baptist grinned and winked as him and the jittery other man took their bags into a far back room. Rachel turned back to Lucy, Finnegan ,and Hannah. Finnegan looked a bit uncomfortable , and Lucy seemed to pick up on that, nudging the other teen in the side. “I’ll share with Finnegan.” Lucy offered, giving the teen a warm look. Hannah turned to Rachel , a confident grin appearing on the woman’s face. “That just leaves you and me then.” Rachel smiled and chuckled softly. “I guess it does.” Hannah grabbed her bags and motioned to the last room left .”Luckily my friend but in bunk beds. So we don’t have to worry about sharing a bed or anything like that.” Rachel nodded and tossed her bag up and into the top bunk “aaand you’ve already stolen the top bunk from me.You’ll pay for that.”Hannah grinned before sticking her head out of the door and shouting down the hall “I’M TAKING THE FIRST SHOWER” Rachel groaned in response as hannah begna removing her shirt on the way out of the room. 

Rachel began taking her clothing out of the bag, taking stock of the things she might’ve needed to buy later.Her shirts were old and artsy, photography prints and old disney quotes on faded cotton shirts, the shirts that chloe packed on the other hand were thrifted grunge , old rock bands and torn up normal shirts - the trends followed for their other clothing items. Rachel’s had some kind of grunge to it , but not a lot. Rachel didn’t want to think about Chloe , about Chloe , and Frank , and Evan … and how, how upset and disappointed in her they’d be. She couldn’t give a single FUCK to what the other kids at blackwell thought , what her parents thought , Victoria always being up her ass in a fake sweet way , Brooke and how she followed warren around but never had the balls to do anything… all of them were static noise in her head.

Evan , ever since she moved to arcadia bay , Evan harris had been her best friend. Sure , both of them were polar opposites in terms of social circles , same with Chloe and Frank ; but Evan and Rachel had this odd platonic connection , and she knew , she could even see it in front of her , Evan’s stone face in public , but a flood of tears at home. It began to eat her from the inside, the feelings. 

Frank was , a special case, he’d helped her and Chloe with Damon , and was an insider into the grungy backstreets and alleyways of Aradia bay. In short ; he was the local drug dealer. People saw her and frank together and whispered, Thinking dirty things about them , but it wasn’t like that. Frank was just one of Rachel’s few close friends.

That , she couldn’t say the same for Chloe. There was no clear limit to all of the things Rachel could say about her. Chloe was .. probably Rachel’s soulmate, in all cheesiness of the word. Chloe was always there for her , this chaotic force of nature - but she had this gentleness with Rachel. Not that Rachel needed to be handled with care , rather Chloe was always so whirlwind fire and fury with everyone around her , but alone with Rachel , Chloe drifted ever so briefly into the eye of the storm. 

Rachel looked down at her leg , tracing her fingers over the black tribal dragon tattoo on the back of her calf. A deep pit in her stomach formed. She’d need to take care of this. Maybe a cover up , or more tattoos? Rachel wouldn’t even entertain the thought of not wearing shorts. The tattoo would be what people would be looking for. Rachel could deal with wearing jeans for a bit until she got more settled. 

“Something on your mind?” Rachel zoned back into reality suddenly, noticing as Hannah walked into the room , wrapped in a towel. 

“Yeah. Just. I’ll tell you guys later , maybe after we’ve all settled down.” Rachel spoke , not looking hannah in the eyes as she put her clothes to the side. Hannah rested an , albeit wet, hand on rachel’s shoulder. “It’s more than okay if you don’t want to talk about it, none of us are going to hold that against you.” Rachel chuckled softly. “I got it. I think after I tell you guys , my past is going into a vault and never coming out.”Rachel stood up , meeting Hannah’s height. “Thank you for not pushing me out of that train , and allowing me to come with you.” “Hey. No need to thank me. “

The group did not have any work that first night , so the six of them went out with what little money they had together and got some food , carrying it back to the roof of the place they were staying. It was a crisp and cool night compared to the heat of the day , and the conversations flowed like water. Laughter , chatter , just general good times. Once the final brush of sunset left, and it was all night , the conversation turned serious. 

“We’ve all come here because we’ve run away from something.” Hannah started , shifting from cross legged to kneeling. “For me , it was a life of nothing , day after day of the same thing. I’m not as strong or as brave as the rest of you, but I love being your rock. For the three that just joined us , I hope you stick around” Hannah gave a knowing glance to Rachel as she continued ,” Or at least know you have a family here with us gutter punks.” Baptist reached over and wrapped his arms around Hannah from behind , pulling her in for a hug. “I don’t want to speak for all of us, but Jinx and I are thankful at least. “ A bright smile on his face as Hannah pulled away and sat up. “Do you guys… want to share what brought you here?” Rachel looked over at lucy , who locked eyes with her and then looked to Finnegan. 

“I’m here because of my brothers and father.” He started, “It’s a long story , lots of betrayal and shitty parenting.” He took a long sip from the coke he had nearly crushing in his hand. It crinkled as he released it , throwing his head back to look at the night sky. 

“For me,” motioned Lucy as she pulled her knees closer to her chest. “I just felt like I didn’t belong anywhere. I wasn’t accepted at home and it just got to be too much. So I left. Sure I had friends but they don’t matter anymore now.” Lucy looked away , burying herself into her thoughts. Rachel too , dig deep into her thoughts, but sighed and began. 

“It’s a long story , mine.” She gave a half-hearted chuckle and began to tell them everything in a summarized manner. Everyone listened , as though they were listening in to a radio broadcast , mesmerised and also slightly terrified of the tale. Rachel didn’t notice Hannah's softened expression , as even despite all of the nice things Hannah did, she had her guard up. Though , now it seemed that Rachel was beginning to tear it down. Little by little. 

“I think. I think I want to go by a new name.” Finnigean spoke up , as the group relaxed , all splayed out on the San Franciscan rooftop. 

“Be careful with that. “Jinx piped up, shooting a quick glance over to the teen. “You pick a name, and it goes with you, forever. You gotta pick something meaningful. '' Finnigan let out a small sigh, nodded , and continued looking at the starry sky as he spoke. “I just want to be finn. Not Finnegan , just- finn. No expectations , no baggage. Just Finn. '' Lucy nodded to now-Finn. “I’ve never liked my name.” She started , combing her fingers through her dirty blonde hair. “I’ve never liked the thin, perfect grades girl I was expected to be.I’m glad now that I get to choose to be myself. To be…” She thought for a moment , eyes closed calmly before breathing out “Cassidy.” Cassidy nodded with a firm certainty , locking eyes with Rachel. “What about you?” 

Rachel sharply drew in a breath. This was it, the moment of truth. She wanted to change her name, to totally reinvent herself so that Mr.Jefferson and the others had no way of finding her. This was her home now. Living here, with them. She’d find her own way in time, her own identity. She held her breath for a long time, before exhaling out her new name, speaking it to the wind. It gave her some kind of exhilarating feeling, something she wanted to ride out for as long as possible. Rachel stood up and shouted, gripped the railing on the rooftop , smiling at the nightscape of San Francisco.

“EDEN” 


End file.
